Aircraft with this VTOL technology can achieve VTOL even its thrust-to-weight ratio is smaller than 1

ABSTRACT

An aircraft with this VTOL technology (the Invention) ( 6,7,8,9,10,18,19,20 ) can achieve VTOL even its thrust-to-weight ratio is smaller than 1. It is impossible for an aircraft with a thrust-to-weight ratio smaller than 1 to take off and land vertically with traditional technologies. The present invention, however, can achieve VTOL on these aircraft ( 6,7,8,9,10,18,19,20 ) by generating another lift force for VTOL by horizontally setting a Thin Wing ( 2 ) at the middle of the perpendicular line of the horizontal section inside the Air Intake Duct ( 5,6 ) in addition to the lift force obtained by traditional ways. This invention can be used to retrofit an existing aircraft to achieve VTOL or manufacture a VTOL aircraft with a thrust-to-weight ratio smaller than 1.

This invention is to achieve VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) onaircraft whose thrust-to-weight ratio is smaller than 1.

Currently, VTOL is only possible for aircraft with a thrust-to-weightratio equal to or greater than 1 because of the limitation oftraditional VTOL technologies which, without exception, get the liftforce in vertical direction for VTOL from a downward-directed propellingnozzle of a jet engine solely, or its combination with a lift fan.

The present invention, however, can achieve VTOL on aircraft whosethrust-to-weight ratio is smaller than 1. According to its firstcharacteristic, this invention can obtain or generate another lift forcefor VTOL, in addition to the lift force obtained by traditional ways, byhorizontally setting a Thin Wing at the middle of the perpendicular lineof the horizontal section inside the Air Intake Duct.

According to the characteristics of the present invention, the followingare true:

The Thin Wing is a part of the Air Intake Duct and is attached to theinner wall of the latter in a fixed or flexible way. The Thin Wing willproduce a lift force when air flows over it and the produced lift forcewill be then transmitted to the inner wall of the Air Intake Duct tolift the aircraft off the ground.

The Thin Wing is designed such that its area and shape take into fullconsideration the air inflow of the jet engine and can ensure theproduced lift force will be greater than the difference between themaximum take-off weight and the vertical thrust of an aircraft.

The entire or part of the Air Intake Duct with a Thin Wing can be fixedor formed through the transformation of components of an aircraft.

The entire or part of the Air Intake Duct with a Thin Wing can be fittedto the fuselage or wings of an aircraft.

The leading end of the Air Intake Duct with a Thin Wing in horizontaldirection can be opened or closed.

The leading end of the Air Intake Duct with a Thin Wing in verticaldirection can be opened or closed.

The attached figures are an illustration of this invention as follows:

FIG. 1 is a side view of an aircraft with this invention on ground(without landing gear) and during horizontal flight.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the transformable wings of an aircraft withthis invention on ground and during horizontal flight.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the transformable wings of an aircraft with thisinvention on ground and during horizontal flight.

FIG. 4 is A-A Section for FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is B-B Section for FIG. 3

FIG. 6 is a side view of an aircraft with this invention during verticaltaking off and landing.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the transformable wings of an aircraft withthis invention during vertical taking off and landing.

FIG. 8 is a top view of the transformable wings of an aircraft with thisinvention during vertical taking off and landing.

FIG. 9 is M-M Section for FIG. 8

FIG. 10 is N-N Section for FIG. 8

As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 6 and 7, an aircraft with this inventionis mainly made up of a fuselage (18), transformable wings (19), anextended section (6) of the air intake duct for the wing, anopenable/closable leading end (8) of the air intake duct in horizontaldirection and that (20) in vertical direction, a jet engine (7) with apropelling nozzle (10) that can be directed downward, and an APU (9)with a propelling nozzle (10) that can be directed downward. The airintake duct (5) formed by the transformable wing (19), together with theextended section (6) of the air intake duct for the wing, jointly formsan intake duct (5,6) with a thin wing (2) to produce an additional liftforce besides the one produced by traditional technologies.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10, the transformable wing(19) is made up of a fixed wing (3), a hydraulic sleeve (1), a thin wing(2), a sliding wing (4), a leading edge flap (11,14) and a trailing edgeflap (12,15), aileron (17) and hinge (13).

When taking off from the ground, the Fixed Wing (3) of the TransformableWing (19) is fixed to the Fuselage (18), and the Sliding Wing (4) andThin Wing (2), under the action of the Hydraulic Sleeve (1), will godown to a position where the Leading End (20) of the Air Intake Duct invertical direction will open and the Jet Engine (7), with the Leading(8) End of the Air Intake Duct in horizontal direction closed, canfreely take air in from the Air Intake Duct (5) of the TransformableWing (19) at a flow rate enough for the Thin Wing (2) to produce a liftforce for VTOL. At the same time, the upper (14) and lower part (11) ofthe Leading Edge Flap and the upper (15) and lower part (12) of theTrailing Edge Flap as well as the Aileron (17) begin to rotate aroundthe Hinge (13) to increase the lift for the transition between verticaltaking off/landing and horizontal flight. The Leading End (8) of the AirIntake to the Jet Engine (7) is closed to prevent the aircraft fromhorizontal movement and to increase the Air Flow (16) through the AirIntake Duct (5,6) with a Thin Wing (2). Also, the horizontal thrustgenerated by the Jet Engine (7) will be directed downward by thePropelling Nozzle (10). Then, the Jet Engine (7) starts to increase thethrust gradually. Now, the Air (16) flows through the Air Intake Duct(4) which is formed as the Sliding Wing and Thin Wing are going down.Because the velocity of the Air flowing over the upper surface of theThin Wing (2) within the Air Intake Duct (5) of the Transformable Wing(19) is higher than that over the lower surface of the Thin Wing (2),and according to Bernoulli's Principle stating an increase in the speedoccurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure, we know that therewill be a lift force produced on the wing due to the lower pressure onthe upper surface of the Thin Wing (2) than that on the lower surface ofthe Thin Wing (2). And this Lift Force is then transmitted to thefuselage through the Hydraulic Sleeve (1) and Fixed Wing (3). Again,this force is never seen before and is an essential featuredistinguishing the present invention from any other VTOL technology. TheThin Wing (2) is designed such that its area and shape take into fullconsideration the air inflow of the Jet Engine (7) and can ensure theproduced lift force will be greater than the difference between themaximum take-off weight and the vertical thrust of an aircraft. The AirIntake Duct (5) of the Transformable Wing (19) is extended to the JetEngine (7) through an extended section (6) (a suspended arm in thiscase). The air flows through the Air Intake Duct (5) of theTransformable Wing (19) and the Extended Section (6) (a suspended arm inthis case) of the Air Intake Duct of the Wing and enters into the JetEngine (7) where the air is burned and blown out of the PropellingNozzles (10) which is now directed downward to generate lift force tolift the aircraft off the ground. There are now two lift forces toachieve VTOL, i.e. one generated by the Air (16) flowing through the AirIntake Duct (5,6) with a Thin Wing (2) and the other one generated bythe high-temp burned air thrown out of the downward-directed PropellingNozzles (10) of the Jet Engine (7) and APU (9). The Hydraulic Sleeve (1)now can drive the left and right Sliding Wing (4) to move up and down tobalance the aircraft horizontally during vertical taking off andlanding, correspondingly, the vertical balance can be controlled byadjusting the angle at which the Propelling Nozzles (10) of the JetEngine (7) and APU (9) are directed downward.

A transition to horizontal flight from vertical taking off can beachieved by performing the above steps in reverse order. Similarly, atransition to vertical landing from horizontal flight can be achieved byrepeating these steps.

All the formulas and calculations for this invention are listed in Annex1.

All the formulas and calculations used to retrofit an Airbus A-380 basedon this invention are listed in Annex 2.

This invention can be used to retrofit an existing aircraft to achieveVTOL or manufacture a VTOL aircraft with a thrust-to-weight ratiosmaller than 1.

1. An aircraft, in which comprising innovative parts and an integralassembly as well as specific VTOL procedures and/or steps to achievevertical taking-off and landing (VTOL) on aircraft of any type andhaving a thrust-to-weight ratio less than 1: Said aircraft comprising:the following innovative parts to generate lift for vertical taking-offand landing: transformable wings (19), which is made up of fixed wing(3), hydraulic sleeve (1), thin wing (2), sliding sing (4), leading edgeflaps (11,14), trailing edge flaps (12,15), aileron (17), hinge (13),and which is capable of generating lift internally for verticaltaking-off/landing by transforming during vertical taking-off/landingand of restoring its normal shape in order to reduce the drag duringforward flight, a transformable fuselage (18), which is made up of afixed fuselage, hydraulic sleeve (1), thin wing (2), a sliding fuselage,and which is capable of generating lift internally for verticaltaking-off/landing by transforming during vertical taking-off/landingand of restoring its normal shape in order to reduce the drag duringforward flight. And an integral assembly which is an integral part ofthe transformable wing (19) and transformable fuselage (18) and which ismade up of the extended section of air Intake duct (6), the openable andclosable leading ends of air intake duct in both horizontal and verticaldirections (8 and 20), jet engine and auxiliary power unit (APU), bothwith downward deflectable propelling nozzles (10). And specific verticaltake-off and land procedures and/or steps.
 2. The aircraft according toabove-mentioned claim, in which the opening and closing of the verticalleading end of the air intake duct on the fixed wing (3) is a directresult of the sliding of the sliding wing (4) over the fixed wing (3)under the action of the hydraulic sleeve (extending and retracting) toform and close the air Intake ducts (5).
 3. The aircraft according toabove-mentioned claims, in which the opening and closing of the verticalleading end of the air Intake duct on the fixed fuselage are a directresult of the sliding of the sliding fuselage over the fixed fuselageunder the action of the hydraulic sleeve (extending and retracting) toform and close the air intake duct (5).
 4. The aircraft according toabove-mentioned claims, in which the thin wing within the transformablewings (19), during vertical taking-off or landing and under theextending of the hydraulic sleeve (1), is positioned in which the flatof the strings in the thin wing is equidistant with the parallel upperand lower wall within the air intake duct (5) that are formed by thefixed wing (3) and sliding wing (4). When the air flows through,according to the wall effect, the thin wing will, given a same velocity,have a greater lift than in the open air. During forward flight, theretracting of the hydraulic sleeve (1) will force the thin wing andsliding wing (4) within the transformable wing (19) to approach thefixed wing (3) until the upper surface of the thin wing clings to thelower wall inside the fixed wing (3) order to reduce the drag.
 5. Theaircraft according to above-mentioned claims, in which the thin wingwithin the transformable fuselage (18), during vertical taking-off orlanding and under the extending of the hydraulic sleeve (1), ispositioned in which the flat of the strings in the thin wing isequidistant with the parallel upper and lower wall within the air intakeduct (5) that are formed by the fixed fuselage and sliding fuselage.When the air flows through, according to the wall effect, the thin wingwill, given a same velocity, have a greater lift than in the open air.During forward flight, the retracting of the hydraulic sleeve (1) willforce the thin wing and sliding fuselage within the transformablefuselage (18) to approach the fixed body until the lower surface of thethin wing clings to the upper wall inside the fixed fuselage in order toreduce the drag.
 6. The aircraft according to above-mentioned claims, inwhich the vertical taking-off and landing procedure comprises thefollowing steps: Taking off from rest on ground: The fixed wing (3) isfixed to the fixed fuselage, and the sliding wing (4) and thin wing (2)within the transformable wings (19), and the sliding fuselage and thinwing (2) within the transformable fuselage, under the action of thehydraulic sleeve (1), will go down respectively to a position where thevertical leading ends (20) of the air intake duct on the fixed wing (3)and the fixed fuselage will open and the jet engine (7), with thehorizontal leading end (8) of the air intake duct closed, can freelytake air in from the air intake duct (5) of the transformable wing (19)and transformable fuselage (18) at a flow rate enough for the thin wing(2) to produce a lift required for VTOL. At the same time, the upperpart (14) of the Leading edge flap, the upper part (15) of the trailingedge flap, the lower part (11) of the leading edge flap, the lower part(12) of the trailing edge flap as well as the aileron (17) begin torotate around the hinge (13) to increase the lift for verticaltaking-off from rest on ground. The horizontal leading end (8) of theair intake duct to the jet engine (7) will close simultaneously toprevent the aircraft from horizontal movement and to increase the airflow (16) through the air intake duct (5,6) with a thin wing (2). Also,the propelling nozzles (10) direct downward the horizontal thrustgenerated by the jet engine (7). Then, the jet engine (7) starts andincreases the thrust gradually. Meanwhile, the air (16) flows throughthe air intake ducts (5), which are formed as the sliding wing (4) andthin wing (2) within the transformable wings (19) as well as the slidingfuselage and thin wing (2) within the transformable fuselage are goingdown respectively, to generate a lift on the thin wing (2). And thislift is then transmitted to the fixed wing (3) and the fixed fuselagecorrespondingly through the hydraulic sleeve (1). The air intake duct(5) of both the transformable wing (19) and the transformable fuselage(18) is extended to the jet engine (7) through the extended section (5)thereof. The air now flows through the air intake duct (5) of both thetransformable wing (19) and the transformable fuselage (18) as well asthrough the extended section (6) thereof and enters into the jet engine(7) where the air is burned and blown out of the propelling nozzles (10)which is now directed downward to generate the lift to lift the aircraftoff the ground. There are now two lifts to achieve vertical taking off,i.e. one generated by the air (16) flowing through the air intake ducts(5,6) in both the transformable wing (19) with a thin wing (2) and thetransformable fuselage (18), and one generated by the high-temp burnedair thrown out of the downward-directed propelling nozzles (10) of boththe jet engine (7) and APU (9). The hydraulic sleeve (1) will drive theleft and right sliding wing (4) to move up and down to balance theaircraft horizontally during vertical taking off and landing. Similarly,the propelling nozzles (10) of the jet engine (7) and APU (9) will bedirected downward by adjusting the angle to control the vertical balanceof the aircraft during vertical taking off and landing. Horizontalflight after vertical taking-off: The sliding wing (4) and the thin wing(2) within the transformable wings (19) as well as the sliding fuselageand the thin wing (2) within the transformable fuselage (18), under theaction of the hydraulic sleeve (1), will go up until the upper surfaceof the thin wing clings to the lower wall inside the fixed wing (3) andfixed body and the lower surface of the thin wing to the upper wallinside the sliding wing (4) and sliding fuselage. At this position, thevertical leading end (2) of both the fixed wing (3) and fixed fuselagewill close and the transformable wings (19) and transformable fuselage(18) will fold to reduce the drag against horizontal flight. At the sametime, the upper part (14) of the leading edge flap, the upper part (15)of the trailing edge flap, the lower part (11) of the leading edge flap,the lower part (12) of the trailing edge flap as well as the aileron(17) begin to rotate around the hinge (13) to reduce the drag againsthorizontal flight. The horizontal leading end (8) of the air intake ductto the jet engine (7) will open simultaneously and the propellingnozzles (10) will return to the horizontal position to direct the enginethrust to horizontal direction from vertical. The air (16) now flowsthrough the horizontal leading End of the air intake duct and entersinto the jet engine (7) where the air is burned and blown out of thepropelling nozzles (10) in horizontal position to generate horizontalthrust and to enable the folded transformable wings to generate the liftfor horizontal flight. Vertical landing from horizontal flight: Thesliding wing (4) and the thin wing (2) within the transformable wings(19) as well as the sliding fuselage and the thin wing (2) within thetransformable fuselage (18), under the action of the hydraulic sleeve(1), will go down to a position where the vertical leading ends (20) ofthe air intake duct on the fixed wing (3) and the fixed fuselage willopen and the jet engine (7), with the horizontal leading end (8) of theair intake duct (8) closed, can freely take air in from the air intakeduct (5) of the transformable wing (19) and transformable fuselage (18)at a flow rate enough for the thin wing (2) to generate a lift requiredfor vertical landing. At the same time, the upper part (14) of theleading edge flap, the upper part (15) of the trailing edge flap, thelower part (11) of the leading edge flap, the lower part (12) of thetrailing edge flap as well as the aileron (17) begin to rotate aroundthe hinge (13) to increase the lift during the transition from thehorizontal flight to vertical landing. The horizontal leading end (8) ofthe air intake duct to the jet engine (7) will close simultaneously toprevent the aircraft from horizontal movement and to increase the airflow (16) through the air intake ducts (5,6) with thin wings (2). Also,the propelling nozzles (10) direct downward the horizontal thrustgenerated by the jet engine (7). Now, the air (16) flows through the airintake duct (5), which is formed as the sliding wing (4) and the thinwing (2) within the transformable wings (19) as well as the slidingfuselage and the thin wing (2) within the transformable fuselage aregoing down, to generate the lift on the Thin Wings. And this lift isthen transmitted to the fixed wing (3) and the fixed fuselage throughthe hydraulic sleeve (1). The air intake duct (5) of the transformablewing (19) and the transformable fuselage (18) is extended to the jetengine (7) through the extended section (5) of the air intake duct. Theair flows through the air intake duct (5) of the transformable wing (19)and the transformable fuselage (18) as well as through the extendedsection (6) thereof and enters into the jet engine (7) where the air isburned and blown out of the propelling nozzles (10) which is nowdirected downward to generate a lift to lift the aircraft off theground. There are now two lifts to achieve vertical landing, i.e. onegenerated by the air (16) flowing through the air intake duct (5,6) inboth the transformable Wing (19) with the thin wing (2) and thetransformable fuselage (18), and one generated by the high-temp burnedair thrown out of the downward-directed propelling nozzles (10) of boththe jet engine (7) and APU (9). The hydraulic sleeve (1) will drive theleft and right sliding wing (4) to move up and down to balance theaircraft horizontally during vertical taking off and landing,correspondingly, the vertical balance can be controlled by adjusting theangle at which the propelling nozzles (10) of the jet engine (7) and APU(9) are directed downward. The thrust from the jet engine (7) decreasesgradually to ensure a smooth landing.